Doctor FAQ

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What is the Ringadoc Answering Service?

Ringadoc Answering Service brings healthcare providers and patients together by cutting out the middleman. Preserving the provider’s privacy, empowering better patient communication, and ensuring HIPAA compliance, the Ringadoc Answering Service rescues providers from inefficient and poor quality after-hour services while enabling the provider to do what they do best: serve patients.

Why should I use Ringadoc instead of a typical answering service?

Ringadoc saves you money and time. It's easy-to-use, reliable and customizable to fit your needs. Providers can triage calls on their own schedule, choosing to connect instantly with a patient or to record a message to send to the patient (avoiding a potentially lengthy conversation).

Unlike typical answering services, Ringadoc's system fields every patient's message in its entirety and the calls are tracked, logged, and immediately updated online and in real time. And all of this can be done on our iPhone or Android app, website, or over the phone.

How much does it cost?

Try before you buy! Your first two weeks with Ringadoc are FREE. After that pricing is $69/month for the first on-call provider and $39 for each additional provider for an office of up to 5 providers. For offices with more than 5 providers, call us and we’ll work out the right affordable solution that caters to your needs. Call 415-735-4303 or email accountmanager@ringadoc.com.

Hidden fees? Termination penalty?

No way! With Ringadoc you get unlimited calls, messages and support. There are no setup or cancellation costs and you don’t need to sign a contract. What we will ask for is your signature on a service agreement that reviews HIPAA compliance.

Is Ringadoc a fit for me?

Ringadoc is available in all 50 states and is for any healthcare provider’s office that has to accommodate incoming calls beyond the normal office hours. This service also works especially well for providers that occasionally sign out to an on-call group.

How do patients react to the automated system versus a live operator?

From what we’ve seen so far, they prefer it.

Talking to a non-medical professional about a sensitive issue is uncomfortable, especially when you get the sense that their primary job is to screen you rather than to care for you. Patients like the straightforward approach of Ringadoc and the improved response that it provides from their doctors.

How easy is it to integrate Ringadoc into my practice?

It’s a piece of cake! Ringadoc’s answering service was designed to drop into any office and replace the previous after hours setup. The only change you need to make is what phone number you forward to when you close the office. If you’re not currently forwarding your after hours calls, you can start with Ringadoc.

How soon can I make the switch to the Ringadoc Answering Service?

Today! All we need from you is to complete a quick info form of contact information and one of our amazing account managers will set up your account in no time flat. This can be done in as little as 10 minutes from start to finish! You can also call us at 415-735-4303 or email accountmanager@ringadoc.com for more info.

How does Ringadoc Answering Service work?

You forward your calls to Ringadoc. When patients call, they have the option to leave a non-urgent voicemail or if it’s urgent, they record their name and reason for calling then hang up. We notify the on-call provider that they have an urgent message. The provider reviews the call and can choose to instantly call back, send a voice message or forward the call to the office voicemail.

What number do patients call?

Patients continue calling your current office number.

When are my calls forwarded to Ringadoc?

Anytime you like. You are in full control of forwarding. You are free to forward your office phones to Ringadoc at your discretion. Ringadoc is “always on” and starts when you first forward and stops when you decide to end forwarding.

How do I forward my phones to Ringadoc?

To forward your phones to Ringadoc, do the following:

Using the phone you would like to forward, pick up the handset and listen for a dial tone.

Dial #72 or *72.

Enter the phone number to which you wish to forward your phones. You may, or may not, have to enter the “1″ before your number.

Listen for the confirmation tone. When you hear it, hang up. Call forwarding is now enabled.

From your cell phone, call your office main number and make sure Ringadoc is picking up.

Un-Forwarding Phones

Pick up the same phone you forwarded to Ringadoc and listen for a dial tone.

Dial #73 or *73.

Listen for the confirmation tone. When you hear it, hang up. Call forwarding is now disabled.

From your cell phone, call your office main number and make sure Ringadoc is no longer picking up.

Will my patients see my personal phone number on their caller ID?

No, your privacy is protected. When you connect with a patient through Ringadoc, they’ll see your office phone number on their caller ID.

How can I check my messages?

When you signup with Ringadoc, we will create an account for you. You can then login in with your user ID and PIN to check messages by:

What happens if the on-call provider misses a call?

You’ll never miss a call with Ringadoc. It waits for you. We notify you of an urgent message however you like either phone call, text, email or push notification through the app. If you don’t respond to the first notification, we’ll fire off another one after a set amount of time. We can even set up another provider to be contacted in case of a missed series of notifications.

How am I notified of an urgent call?

Ringadoc automatically routes the urgent message to the on-call provider. If you’re using the mobile app with push notifications turned on, we’ll notify you first by push notification. If not using the app or with push notifications turned off, we’ll first call you from the Ringadoc Portal, 800-691-8228.

If after five minutes, the urgent call isn’t completed, we can notify you by text and/or email. After another interval of time, we can notify any backup providers that you wish.

With our system you can also designate additional default phone lines to call or at anytime change your contact number.

What are my options for replying to an urgent call?

You have any of the following options:

Return the call now - One button call back that protects your caller ID. After you complete the call, you have the option to record notes.

Record a message to send back - A popular feature that lets you get back to your dinner fast. Ringadoc will deliver your message and you don’t have to engage in a lengthy conversation.

Forward to office - The call will be added to the non-urgent voicemail and Ringadoc will inform the caller that their message has been reviewed.

Dismiss

All actions within Ringadoc’s answering service are documented and timestamped for your records and liability.

Can the patient leave a non-urgent message (for appointments, etc.) without notifying the provider?

Yes. Patients are offered an option of leaving you a voicemail rather than connecting with you for an urgent matter. These voicemails are stored for access 24/7 by phone, web or mobile app.

How do you handle my on-call schedule?

We have a great web-based calendar where you can assign coverage and Ringadoc will automatically route any urgent calls to the scheduled on-call provider. You can add providers within your office or outside and customize coverage to indicate whether one provider is just covering for another or for the whole group. Our calendar makes sure that calls are only routed to the appropriate on-call provider so no one else is needlessly disturbed.

For those with jam-packed calendars, we made it easy to copy repeating on-call events. Simply hold Shift and then click and drag an event to where you want to copy it.

How does payment work?

Our service is month-to-month. We’ll invoice your account on the first of each month and send you a receipt.

How long are messages saved for?

We save all urgent messages for seven years in accordance to HIPAA best practices. Even if you delete an urgent message by accident, we have it stored for you on our servers. Non-urgent voicemail that has already been marked as reviewed will be deleted after 30 days.

Can Ringadoc forward calls remotely?

Ringadoc can do a lot, but this is actually a feature related to your telecom provider (AT&T, Verizon, etc). Most service providers have remote forwarding functions that allow you to control it from another phone or the internet.

What happens if I don’t have cell service?

It’s simple to switch your default contact number anytime. If you don’t have the opportunity for another contact like your home phone, any urgent calls that are sent to you and go incomplete will be forwarded to the backup provider you’ve set up after thirty minutes.

Note that if using a smartphone in an area that has wi-fi, but poor cell service, you can join the wireless network and still receive messages as normal.

I forgot my PIN password!

Take a deep breath and click here. Then just enter your email address and we’ll send you instructions to reset your pin.